Tolerant Córdoba

Córdoba has better vibes than Toledo. When St. Ferdinand conquered it in the 13^th C.,  it may actually have been kind of a relief to the Jews, because the golden age of Moorish enlightened rule had been replaced by more a fundamentalist dynasty that offered them the choice of conversion to Islam, deportation, or death. [So it wasn’t the Spaniards who started that tradition!] St. Ferdinand seemed to like Jews, and under his, and his successor (Alfonso the Wise) things in Córdoba got back to normal. That is, the Moorish-style tolerance had another flowering. But the city’s golden age was earlier,  It was, some say, the largest city in Europe in the 11^th C. Kiev may have been bigger, though. Both cities enjoyed good rulers, art, science, and culture.

For some reason, Córdoba produced some really great philosophers: Seneca, Averroës and Maimonides lived here. The latter two brought Aristotle to Western Europe.

The great mosque is really worth the whole trip. It is really a huge covered space – like the great bazaar in Istanbul. A forest of columns supporting horseshoe arches of alternating white stone and red brick. Row behind row of these lovely things produces a wonderfully hypnotic effect as one strolls through. It must have been great to come in here on a hot summer’s day, into the cool of the House of Prayer. 


                                   


Outside is a somewhat smaller space – the Orange Patio – with orange trees instead of columns and a fountain at the center for the ablutions required before entering the mosque. (Background is cathedral elevation; i5ts footprint occupies only a small percentage of the space).

The loveliest part of the building is the Qiblah, or niche indicating the direction of Mecca. 

Only this is somewhat more than a niche. Mosaics and a cupola with a glorious ceiling.

The Christians put their rather small cathedral right in the middle of the mosque. St. Ferdinand was careful not to wreck anything too terribly. He mostly built up. But Charles V redid it in the 16thh C., and was publicly disappointed with the result. More gold. More ornate work. Here’s the sanctuary lamp. [To get an idea of its size, see if you can spot the little glass lamp in the middle, which is about 18” high. Solid silver.]

The Hotel Maimonides was a good deal (big, and lots of empty rooms this time of year. It is literally steps from the main entrance to the mosque. Right across the street, and the streets are narrow. Fun to walk around, because autos are banned and you get the feel of a medieval city. And then there is the Roman bridge. Built in 1 BC, for 2,000 years it was the ONLY bridge in town. New ones were built only in the 20^th C. 

It seems as good as ever, although it is now retired, in that it’s reserved for pedestrians. One wonders whether anything our civilization has built will last for two millennia.

Pretty interesting food. Something called flamenquines, which are thin slices of pork loin rolled and stuffed with ham and then deep-dried. 

Also tried some really good tapas at a nice Flamenco tavern in the warren of streets behind the hotel: some honest-to-God acorn-fed Iberian ham and something called eggplants with honey. The ham is a classic: like prosciutto only better. They slice it extremely thin. It is the color of cordovan leather, but marbleized and tender. The eggplant was like little donuts, but, in fact, made out of eggplant, somehow. I arrived at 8:30 – long before the action starts – so the music was recorded: flamenco alternating with Spanish Christmas carols.

Tomorrow, on to Granada and the Alhambra.